since last summers general election and brexit vote, british politics could not be more divided. one of the key discussion points of the REFERENDUM was immigration policy. Kick them all out, decrease the number entering the uk, INCREASE the number entering the uk, let them all in. britain became divided and when britain voted to leave the european union tensions rose.
many newspapers reported the rise in hate crime and racial abuse just after britain voted leave. an EXAMPLE of a source is the independent's article (which can be viewed here). on the right is a graph published using data from the home office data hub. it clearly shows a large increase in reported crime during the REFERENDUM. ALTHOUGH the reported crimes decrease over the next month they remain higher on AVERAGE than BEFORE. bare in mind hate crime had also INCREASED over last few years before the REFERENDUM. |
i thought when looking at immigrants and their lives, chinatown would be an ideal place to start. It's full of culture and chinese influence with busy chinese supermarkets and RESTAURANTS. It's an interesting place as it could be considered INTEGRATION at it's finest or complete SEGREGATION. personally i think it's the perfect example of INTEGRATION; a space where people can find a joint sense of homeland and yet provides a very comforting space that can be explored by all races. the main reason i don't see it as segregation is that not many people live their, it's not a GHETTO for the chinese, it's a place where people go to to REMIND themselves of home and get a taste of their homeland's food and culture.
i decide to explore this place of interest through the means of candid street photography, i did this so the natural motions of these people's lives where UNTOUCHED, all the photographs show exactly what was happened and what would have happened even if i wasn't there. |
Location of chinatown:
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i will now look at camden town as a case study in the same format as i looked at chinatown, candid street photography. however, this time i will try to focus more on the people in the location and trying to capture their own stories and lives through my photographs. i will focus on individuals that have come from other countries and what they are doing in camden. whether that be for their enjoyment or for their work.
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location of camden town:
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brick lane, which is renowned for it's mixed CULTURE created by mass migration movements through time, is home to brick lane market. most popular on sundays, the market has everything and anything you could want. it brings together different cultures, ETHNICITY'S and RELIGIONS and produces something quite spectacular. many immigrants from across london travel to brick lane market to get a sense of home. i VISITED there one sunday to explore the market and took this set of photographs.
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location of brick lane:
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IKONA PORTRAITS
This project is by documentary photographer Georgia Metaxas and it explores identity, heritage and migration. The seven portraits are close ups taken on a simple background similar to passport images of people who have arrived in Australia from Greece. Greeks first entered Australia in the 19th century and have made many contributions to the country since then, this project reflects this. In my photographs I am also reflecting the various cultures and nationalities that have made an influence or who have been influenced by British culture. I thought this quote by one of the subjects, George Ambelas was interesting. "I feel more Greek in Australia than I ever did in Greece." People who are surrounded by various cultures and ethnic groups would think about their own background more as they are an outsider constantly thinking about who they are, whats their identity and what defines them making them more aware of where they come from. |
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F Zamyadi
1. I came from iran at 18.
2. I feel fully integrated and i did so very quickly as i was young and ADAPTABLE. 3. No, i dont think so. 4. no, not really but might be related to my profession, maths teachers are always in high demand. 5. more encouragement and education, other than that i can't think of anything . |
fung siu
1. Hong kong. i came to the uk aged 5.
2. yes. it took a few years. 3. Yes, my current employer, who has used me in company promotional MATERIAL to emphasis diversity in the company. 4. no. free TERTIARY education ALLOWED me to take advantage of a lot of professional and academic OPPORTUNITIES. 5. improve social mobility. go back to offering free tertiary education. |
mansour MOHAMMADi-motlagh
1. iran, 14
2. yes. about 8 years. 3. yes. at my first and second job they considered me a total outsider and that affected my promotion prospects. 4. yes. i have always had to work harder to prove myself. 5. assume that they are as good as anyone else. however, the uk has come a long way SINCE the 1980s |
mia farrell
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kinga
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yasmin
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1. both my parents came over from ireland.
2. DEFINITELY here. 3. no never. |
1. my parents immigrated from poland
2. here 3. i don't think so, it's hard to tell if my HERITAGE plays a part and it's not always fair to assume it does. |
1. my Mum is from new zealand and my dad is from india.
2. i'm very happy i grew up here and wouldn't change that. 3. nope |
The Youth Of Immigration from Nat Hodge on Vimeo.
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There is high contrast in this image between the figure in the foreground and the white wall, the red line around his silhouette with the words inside is powerful and draws in the viewers attention. There's a sad tone to the image as the subject is looking down and you can see he is wondering about what his life could be if he didn't live in Bangladesh, he writes - "MY DREAM IS TO GO TO EUROPE". Goldberg asked his subjects to write on the photographs, this creates a story that the viewer can EXPERIENCE and as a result have an understanding of the individuals; how they lived their lives, the suffering they went through and how they are looking for change.
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as touched on right at the beginning of this project there is much debate about immigration and the positives, negatives etc. ALTHOUGH both sides have their own views and THEIR freedom of speech must be respected and therefore people on either side of the debate must be free to speak there thoughts as long as they don't break the law and insight violence.
however, in november 2014 the economist, a widely respected and generally considered neutral source, published an article titled 'What have the immigrants ever done for us?'. In the article, it claims that it is 'estimated that between 1995 and 2011 the migrants made a positive contribution of more than £4 billion ($6.4 billion) to Britain, compared with an overall negative contribution of £591 billion for native Britons.' so DESPITe large portions of the nation not being a particular fan of IMMIGRATION it has been proven that they have a net gain on the ECONOMY and i'm even those opposed to immigration cannot deny a strong and stable nation is built on a strong and stable economy. the graph shown on the right (published by the centre for RESEARCH and analysis of migration, ucl) shows that EEA immigrants have a net benefit benefit for the uk economy and non-eea immigrants although having a net loss for the uk economy have less net loss than uk natives. |
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COS·MOP·O·LIS (KÄZˈMÄPƏLƏS) NOUN : A CITY INHABITED BY PEOPLE FROM MANY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
this project by CANADIAN photographer Colin Shafer explores the stories of people from all over the world who have migrated to toronto. the video to the left is a ted talk where shafer talks about his project. |
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for my RESPONSE to shafer, I will use wenders' idea of capturing unique MOMENTS with polaroids. wender used polaroids to capture moments and loved how they enabled him to capture a moment that could never be re-created again. the thinking BEHIND his work really made his work feel special and it made me as the viewer feel a greater connection with his work BECAUSE unlike most photographs i saw the only copy there is. i want to use this idea of uniqueness in my own work, after all everyone's story is different and although some maybe more similar than others, no ones is the same.
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this polaroid photograph shows eloise pictured in front of an old style KITCHEN in her friends house, the gas cooker reminds her of when she grew up in france where they had limited ELECTRICITY and ALWAYS had use an old gas cooker.
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in this polaroid, eloise is shown holding an old board game, it reminds her of when she was younger and had no internet in her house so frequently played board and card games with her family for entertainment.
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I thought this was a wonderful idea. it used the front page's of the weekly major newspapers in 2016 and made a chart showing the coverage of migration in the uk. interesting to point out the spike that appeared in the months around the brexit REFERENDUM.
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one of the areas of the museum talked about was Rock against racism, (RAR), an amazing creative collective that i looked at in the CURATORSHIP task. they heavy protested the rising violence against DIFFERENT races facing britain in the 1970s. they put on concerts and published a magazine to RAISE awareness.
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this idea uses the distorted WORLD map as a body and using human arms with the world's COMMON MIGRATION routes in red portraying the veins. it's powerful statement saying that migration is what keeps the worlds 'heart' going. it's FUNDAMENTAL to it's SUCCESS and to it's future.
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this idea was a nice touch as the museum was coming to a close. along the wall a timeline was set up with cards for visitors to write about their migration stories and EXPERIENCES. it was a very INTERESTING read with all sorts of inspiring stories throughout history.
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this project by a PARISIAN artist, jr, is about displaying the diversity of the world. PHOTOBOOTH trucks travel across the globe taking people's photographs and printing them out so the PARTICIPANTS can go and paste them wherever they like. some you them as a political statement and others just for artist integrity. the project helps promote a sense of togetherness and shows how we may all be different but we are all humans.
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